Problem with Mastodon is 1/the name 2/ "pods".
I simply forgot which damn pod I signed up to and most people are simply unwilling to understand what the hell is a "pod". People just want on url where to sign up to.
I think you might be thinking of FunkWhale re: "pods". They're just called instances in Mastodon.
Although your point is taken, instances can be a stumbling block.
I think the email analogy works well here. You can choose Yahoo or Gmail or Hotmail depending on what service you like better, but you can chat with whoever you like regardless of what email service they use. Heck, you can host your own email if you like!
Re: the "just want one url" concern, there's joinmastodon.org
Still wondering if the Mastodon community couldn't turn this into an advantage. Right now, users are mostly confused why there is no common way to sign up for "Mastodon" as you did for Twitter.
Usually, in the end, they sign up at the first instance they know through media or the one where all their friends are. This leads to large instances becoming ever larger and eventually risking being overloaded.
So if new users don't care about instances and just want a central entrypoint and if the Mastodon community cares a lot about instances and wants to avoid huge instances dominating or getting overloaded - why not build some central "entrypoint" where users can sign-up and which will assign users to an instance?
The selection could be done via user-centric features - e.g. preference, areas of interest, friends, location, etc - but could also be constrained by the amount of new users that instances are willing to accept.
An instance could register with this service and offer e.g. a contingent of 500 slots for new accounts. Then the service could include the number of free slots for each instance into the calculation and eventually selects an instance which satisfies the user's preferences while also balancing new users between all instances.
Or even doing like a pottermore/buzzfeed-style quiz to "sort" you into an instance.
Honestly, I think the people that would bristle most about this are the instances themselves. I imagine that the vast majority of them dread the idea of having an influx of people who are joining the instance with little thought as to the existing community.
Some are probably more amenable to this, but those are likely to be the large general instances like mastodon.social and mas.to, but they are already huge.
> Honestly, I think the people that would bristle most about this are the instances themselves.
Yeah, I can imagine that - which is why the instances would have to be in control here. E.g., require that an instance explicitly registers with the service before you start assigning users to them. Also that's why I think it's important that instances announce how many new users there are willing to take.
Of course, this could lead to new problems, e.g. the service could be a target for malicious instances: Make an instance, stuff it full of (your own) bots that promote some sort of MLM or crypto scam, then have the entrypoint service supply you with a steady stream of gullible users.
Or alternatively, use the service to quickly grow large, then sell data from your users, employ accounts from your instance as spambots, etc.
So such an entrypoint would somehow have to balance the interests of the users and the interests of the instances.
Actually many of us are a bit tired of WFH but guess what: the reason I and many HAVE to WFH is due do the bankruptcy-level childcare costs (UK). It is easier to change job than to re-arrange childcare. School starts at 9am stops at 15:30. Think about it. Some parents have one kid in nursery/school A, other kid in B. We are tired. No, I am not going back, fuck them.
You dont know how lucky you are to have a sustainable inclusive mode of transport. Here in the UK its a fight against NIMBYs and right-wing idiots. The whole thing is becoming politicized and weaponized. Its super dystopia. Stay there, trust me. Thanks
Cycling is becoming politicized in the UK and some politicians are trying to score points. The other day an ex-transport minister suggested forcing registration plates on bicycles. Any cycle lane that pops up will trigger all the right-winger NIMBYs making them go full ape mode. Some cars are becoming super aggressive (most are actually cautious or unaware). Its a sad state of affairs.
Aint gonna work. Design affects behavior. If the road encourages speeding but the sign says "hey go slower", drivers will end up speeding. This is known for decades. Design roads for slower speed: complexity e.g. chicanes, trees whatnot
Oh you have soooo much space to add some cycle lanes. Here in the UK we are fighting for shared space. There in the US you _have_ the space. Holy shit make some cycle lanes. US is seriously carbrain damaged.
